Merlin
by storyspinners
Summary: What would Chris have been in a past life, if his brother was already the great King Arthur...


On a late afternoon, the silence of the Halliwell Manor was pierced by the earth shattering sound of a slamming door.

Chris Halliwell stormed into the house, through the hidden door between the stairwell and the landing. He furiously tossed his backpack to the side and raced up the stairs before the rest of the Halliwell children even made it into the manor.

Chris was sporting a rapidly swelling black eye, courtesy of Drake Gallen, and wanted more than anything to be left alone. He could hear the rest of his family downstairs, some questioning where he was, so Chris moved to climb the old steps to the attic, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the prying eyes.

Chris banged open the attic door, only to stop suddenly at the sight of his Aunt Paige who was adding several ingredients to a softly smoking cauldron.

"Um, Aunt Paige?" Chris looked at her questioningly.

Paige didn't look up from the potion she was brewing, but said brightly, "Hi Chris! How was Magic School?"

"What are you doing?" Chris asked, now slightly annoyed that there was someone else up here. "Why aren't you at work? Or down in the kitchen making that?" He gestured to the pot.

Paige just shrugged, reaching for a jar full of leaf-looking things. "Well, your dear Aunt Phoebe is caught up at work, so she called me to come over early and make this lovely little potion," Paige said, "And your mother said in no way whatsoever was I to make a mess in the kitchen, since we're all having dinner here tonight." Paige grabbed another jar filed with an orange liquid. "By the way, did your mom get in yet? I know she went up to the school for something today."

"She's downstairs, I think," Chris mumbled. Though, truthfully, Chris hadn't stuck around long enough to find out. She was probably still making her way inside, rounding everyone up. Chris flopped down on the old couch, sighing loudly.

Paige finally glanced up at her nephew, but her smile faded as she saw him. "Chris what happened?" his aunt asked, taking in his black eye and walking over to him, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Chris said, pushing away Paige's hands as she tried to examine his face, refusing to be healed. He had already endured his mother fussing over her little "peanut"; he didn't need his aunt making a big deal about it too.

Paige nodded, guessing what Chris was thinking and flopped down beside him. "You look fine," she said sarcastically.

"Drake Galen doesn't," Chris replied with a half smirk.

Paige raised an eyebrow at her nephew. "Chris?"

Chris looked away, saying quietly, "I might of, maybe, sort of tossed him into a bookshelf with magic, maybe." He threw his aunt his most innocent look.

Paige just shook her head, trying not to smile at the image. Instead she asked the question Chris knew was coming.

"Why?"

Chris didn't say anything, not really sure how to say what he was feeling. He wasn't even sure if his aunt would understand. Drake had been picking on Chris for years, but Chris was very adept at ignoring him and had never been in a fight where it pushed him to use magic out of anger. Wyatt was more of the hot-head.

But Drake's words were still ringing in his ears and preying on his fears and doubts. His feelings that he wasn't good enough, strong enough, and was falling behind.

That he would be _left_ behind.

Paige still sat quietly, waiting for Chris to say something.

Chris mumbled, "We went over a lot of stuff in history," He was avoiding his aunt's eye.

Paige didn't say anything, already having an idea where this was going. The Charmed Ones were mentioned significantly throughout the history books, and already Wyatt's birth was written about as well as the fact that he is the heir to Excalibur. There wasn't anyone in the magical community who hadn't heard of the Halliwell family.

Chris kicked at a spot on the floor as he said, "Drake wouldn't shut up about Wyatt being King Arthur in a past life. And that it must suck to have a brother like me because I probably wasn't good enough to be one of the servants." Chris kicked at the spot again with more force.

"So you hit him?" Paige asked, confirming what she already knew.

"Sort of."

Paige sighed. "Chris, he was just trying to rile you up," she said calmly, her Whitelighter training setting in, "You know what he said isn't true."

But Chris looked up at his aunt, the hurt evident in his green eyes, "What if it is true Aunt Paige?" he gulped, "You believed in those legends before mom did and now we KNOW their true.

"Yes," Paige said slowly, trying to think of what to say to liven him up, "But Chris, I don't think--"

Chris cut across her. "Don't try to cheer me up, Aunt Paige. Mom already tried that with her theory of Lancelot," he said.

Paige grimaced. Though Lancelot was the greatest of Arthur's Knights, ultimately he betrays the king in the end. Not the ideal past life.

"Well," Paige said, shrugging her shoulders, "Maybe you were someone else in a past life. Like Merlin."

"What?" Chris asked, shooting Paige a skeptical look, "I thought Merlin was a myth?"

"Who knows?" Paige smiled, "We thought the Lady of the Lake was a myth. Really though, your Aunt Phoebe has more experience with this past life stuff. Me, not so much."

Chris scrunched up his nose, "Yeah, but Aunt Paige that's gross!"

Paige laughed. "That's because you're thinking of the really old Merlin with a long white beard," she said, "The funny thing about legends is that there are so many different versions of them."

"What do you mean?"

"In one version," Paige continued, "Merlin was said to be around the same age as Arthur. Were friends even. And he was very powerful."

Chris was sitting up straighter now, curiosity taking the place of his surliness.

"Merlin knew what Arthur was supposed to do and it was his job to guide and protect the future king," Paige said.

Chris shrugged his shoulders, finding a flaw in his aunt's idea, "Yeah, but he was a wizard," Chris replied. All the Halliwells were witches.

"Arthur was a mortal," Paige winked.

Chris looked back down at his shoes again, knowing his aunt was trying, but not making him feel any better. "Wyatt doesn't need my help," he said bitterly, "He's the Twice Blessed after all."

"Chris," Paige said, willing her stubborn nephew to understand, "Everybody needs help sometime. I--"

But suddenly, Paige was interrupted by and ear-splitting scream that was enough to shake the foundation of the Manor.

"WYATT MATHEW HALLIWELL!"

Paige and Chris took one look at each other before jumping off the attic couch and rushing down stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, in the front room, Piper Halliwell looked on the verge of involuntarily blowing something up. Out of the corner of his eye, Chris noticed his other cousins popping their heads in to see what was going on. Wyatt stood in front of their mother, most likely having just come from outside. His one eye was swelling in a bruise to match that of his younger brother's. He reused to back down as Piper started shouting again, apparently in mid-argument.

"So you just decide to orb around looking for a fight?!" their mother yelled.

"I wasn't looking, he found me--"

"Then you think you can sneak back in! As if I wouldn't have noticed my son wasn't in the house!!"

"He started it!" Wyatt tried to explain, "And besides, Malcolm was asking for it, Mom."

Chris stared at his brother.

Malcolm was Drake's older brother and in Wyatt's grade. Chris had heard him, after the fight, bragging about Drake and saying how right he was for hitting the younger Halliwell.

"AND WHAT?" Piper shot back, "Did he say or do that would posses you to FIGHT with him!?"

Wyatt glared at his mother, but said nothing.

"UNBELIEVABLE!" Piper raged, throwing up her hands and causing a glass on a nearby table to shatter. "You should know better!"

Chris had now moved down the rest of the stairs to stand next to his brother.

"You're grounded, young man!" their mother continued, pointing at her eldest child.

"But Mom--!"

"No buts!"

Chris stepped forward towards Piper, yet keeping a close eye on her hands. "Mom," he said, "We're supposed to go on a trip with Grandpa this weekend."

Both boys were looking forward to their trip and loved the chance to hand out with their favorite grandparent almost as much as he was with his favorite nephews. They had been planning it for weeks and Piper knew it.

Her resolve seemed to falter under the pleading look her green-eyed son was giving her.

She sighed.

"Alright," she finally said, reluctantly giving in. Both boys smiled. "But NO outside contact before and after this weekend. Understand?"

Wyatt nodded vigorously.

"To your room. Now."

Wyatt was still smiling as he lightly punched Chris in the arm and climbed up the stairs, past Paige, to his room.

Piper turned her attention to her youngest sister. "You. Potion. Move it." she said, pointing after Wyatt.

Paige waved her off. "I'm goin', I'm goin'," she said, moving up the steps, but not before giving her nephew a quick wink and smile, "Told you so"

Chris blinked, confused as he watched her go.

Then it hit him.

What he had just done.

Chris had stepped in to deflect their mother's rage from Wyatt. He had been able to get his brother off the hook for this weekend.

Chris smiled thoughtfully.

He had saved him.

Piper strode over to the kitchen, looking to start dinner early. Chris followed her, planning on helping, his smile still lingering on his face.

Wyatt and Chris had different ways of looking out for one another, but Chris knew, they would always have each other' backs.

THE END


End file.
